Game Notes: (MBK) Adrian College @ North Central College (3/6/20)

Final Score
NCC 69, Adrian 54

Game Summary
This seemed like a troublesome start as the Cardinals (22-5) missed a wide open layup on the game's opening possession, but played good enough defense to grab the opening bucket about two minutes in and getting out to a 9-2 lead. But the Bulldogs (17-12) hung around for a bit, keeping the margin in the four to six point range. But the Cardinals finally did start to hit some threes and found themselves up double digits about 14 minutes in, and led by as many as 13 before taking a 37-26 advantage into the locker room. The Bulldogs still hung tough in the second half, getting to the line and hitting a few early threes to trim the deficit back to seven at 41-34. But then the Cardinal offense got going, with a few threes to pull the lead back out to 19 at the eight minute media timeout. Adrian showed heart though, refusing to go quietly, but got no closer than 11 the rest of the way as the Cardinals comfortably came out on top.

Key Players

• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 5-10 FG (1-3 3PT), 1-2 FT; 12 pts, 20 reb (3 off). No, that's not a typo. Cap was able to get his share of layups in this one, but did a ton of damage on the glass. His 20 rebounds is tied for the eighth most in a game in program history, and he's the first Cardinal to get at least 20 since Michael Patterson did it against North Park back in February of 1989.
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 5-10 FG, 6-11 FT; 16 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. This is a fairly typical Connor line. He got his teammates involved, did well on the boards, and ended up helping shoulder the load offensively. He struggled a bit in the paint, with a bunch of his makes coming from midrange. The free throw thing is a little alarming, because he's been so good all year. Hopefully just a one game blip.
• Will Clausel (NCC): 6-7 FG (2-2 3PT), 1-2 FT; 15 pts, 4 reb (2 off), 2 ast, 1 blk. Will has had some empty offensive games this year, but he really stepped up in this one. He took advantage of some nice feeds from Raridon, as well as doing a good job against Adrian's bigs to really have a good game. He's North Central's X-factor, and when he's on, the Cardinals are very tough to beat.

Key Stats

• NCC: 17-27 FT (63.0%). This number on the whole is alarming, especially considering half the misses came from your best free throw shooter in Connor Raridon. The first half was fine (12-16), before a 5-11 second half really raised some eyebrows. You can get away with that against Adrian... you can't in the second round.
• ADR: 17-54 FG (31.5%), 4-20 3PT (20.0%). In the preview for this weekend, I highlighted two guys: Jordan Harris and Jeremy Kalonji. They came into the weekend averaging a combined 42 points on really good shooting numbers. They combined to go 10-35 from the field tonight and managed just 35 points. A lot of that is a credit to North Central's defense, which has been outstanding all year, but Adrian missed some good looks too. You have to take advantage against a good team, and they couldn't.

Other NCC-Hosted First Round Game

UW-Oshkosh 74, Transylvania 58

This one wasn't really in doubt. The Pioneers (19-9) managed to hang tough early, even taking some brief leads thanks to some good dribble penetration, but couldn't hit their outside shots, while the Titans (20-8) did. They slowly began to pull away as the first half went on en route to a 40-29 lead at intermission. An early second half three cut the lead to eight, but the Titans went on a 15-2 run to put the game out of reach. Jack Flynn put up 29 points and nine rebounds to pace Oshkosh, Adam Fravert added 12 and 15, and Will Mahoney scored 10 off the bench for the Titans. Zach Larimore came off the pine to lead the Pioneers with 13 points, while Gabe Schmitt added 12.

NCAA Tournament Scoreboard Watch

• CCIW Teams
• Elmhurst 97 (23-5), Lycoming 73 (20-9)
• Elmhurst retains possession of The Belt^TM
• Nebraska Wesleyan Pod- Would be Sweet 16 opponent
• Washington University 102 (21-5), Bethany Lutheran 68 (21-7)
• Nebraska Wesleyan 77 (25-3), Webster 73 (19-9)

Final Thoughts

Tonight was Adrian's first NCAA Tournament game, and I'd say they acquitted themselves well. They never got super down on themselves and played their hearts out. The Cardinals were just the better team, and made sure of it down the stretch by making the plays they needed to to come away with a good, solid win. The free throws remain a concern, but they've shot well from the line much of the year.

Saturday night brings up another game that should be a second weekend matchup as the Cardinals get another crack at the defending champions. The Cardinals didn't shoot particularly well in that game, something that I think can definitely change this time around. Both teams have slightly different rotations than they did the first time around, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. It should be one of the better games in D-III on the day though. Hopefully North Central can finally make it back out of the first weekend for the first time since 2013!